Combined power sleigh and carriage



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. M.-TRULL.-

COMBINED POWER SLEIGH AND CARRIAGE.

No. 578,667. Patented Mar. 9, 1897.-

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COMBINED POWER SLBIGH AND CARRIAGE. No. 578,667. Patented Mar. 9,1897.

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J. TRULL. I COMBINED POWER SLBIGH AND CARRIAGE. No. 578,667. Patented Max:1 9, 1897.

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J. M. TRULL. DOMBINED POWER SLEIGH AND CARRIAGE.

No. 578,667. Patented Mar. 9, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. TRULL, OF TRULL, COLORADO.

A COMBINED POWER SLEIGH AND CARRIAGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 578,667, dated March 9, 1897.

Application filed November 30, 1894;. Serial No. 530,502. (No model.)

To all whont it 77'MI/Z/ concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN M. TRULL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Trull, in the county of Routt and State'of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Power Sleigh and Carriage, of which the followingis afull, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to a combined sleigh and Wheeled vehicle with means for propelling same by steam; and its object is to provide a carriage of this nature having a simple and durable construction and adapted for draft and other purposes.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, Figure- 1 is a side elevation of the steam-sleigh. Fig.2 is a plan View of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is avertical cross-sectional view taken on the line so a; of Fig. 2, showing the means for raising and lowering the propellingwheels. Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the raising and lowering apparatus. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the brake mechanism. Fig. 6 is a rear end View of the sleigh. Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view showing a portion of the sleigh with means for converting same to an axle-bearing. Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail view of a form of snow-packer which I employ. Fig. 9 is a broken plan view of a portion of a tilting shaft, knuckle, sup porting-spring, and framework of the ma chine; and Fig. 10 is a side view of Fig. 9, with the frame part shown sectionally.

In my invention I provide a sleigh of novel construction having two sets of main runners, A A representing the forward runners and B B the rear runners. In addition to these main runners I provide auxiliary runners C C, which serve to support the propellingwheels D D and their operating mechanism. The said propelling-wheels D D consist of the hubs at, having radial spurs I). Said hubs are journaled upon axles 0, supported in the bearings cl, provided in the frame E. The said frame E consists of the side-bars e f, which are placed parallel with each other on either side of the wheels D and are connected at their ends by cross-pieces e f. The said side-bars e f are provided on their outer sides with grooves g, which grooves, together with the corresponding grooves 9 formed on the inner sides of guides F F, serve as slideways for the cross'heads G. The piston-rods h h, bearing said cross-heads, are pivotally secured at h to a pitman 2', the said pitman being pivoted at j. The rod j connects the propelling-wheels together, the said rod being pivot-ally secured at k to a disk K, which is mounted upon the axle c, andthe end of said rod j is pivotally connected with a crank K.

L is a brace or support pivoted at Z Z to a slide-block M, having its forward ends Z Z connected together by means of a cross-piece 1*. The said brace L is provided with downwardly-projecting pieces m, m, m and m the said pieces being connected at their lower ends with a cross-bar L. The said pieces also serve to support the guides F F and e f.

Secured to the cross-bar L are forks or guides Z Attached to the runners O O are uprights N N, having a spring O connecting their upper ends together. Depending pivotally from the central portion of said spring 0 is a bar or rod P, passing through the cross-pieces Z and L and terminating in a flanged head 0. At a point between the cross-pieces Z and L is a collar 0 on the bar P. A coiled spring 0 surrounds the said bar P, being confined between the collar o and cross-piece Z A hingepiece 19 is mounted upon the cross-piece Z Within this hinge is pivoted a lever Q, having a fork q projecting therefrom at right angles. At the face end of said fork q is pivotally secured a link-piece q, the said link-piece q being also pivoted to a friction-clutch R, which encircles the rod P. This lever Q may be arranged at the opposite side of the rod P, and a cord leading to the cab may be attached to the handle of said lever to operate the lat ter from said cab.

Friction-bands S S encircle the disk K K, being secured at s s to portions .9 s of the frame. The other ends of said friction-bands are attached to a double lever S, forming a brake, the said lever S being pivoted to the pieces an M T is a platform supporting a boiler T and certain retarding mechanism, which will be described hereinafter. The said boiler is connected by a flexible pipe t with the cylinders H. Uprights T T are pivotally secured to the pieces M.

nected by a cross-bar 25 and the uprights T T are connected by a similar bar. (Not shown.)

- Secured centrally to the cross-bar t is abearing-plate t havinga central openingt a similar plate (not shown) being secured to the cross-bar (not shown) connecting the uprights T T A shaft U connects with the said plates t -and is pivotally held within the bearings t Upon the said shaft U is secured a cog-wheel M, which meshes with a pinion a, which pinion is pivoted on a shaft m the said shaft being supported in bearings a u. The same shaft n carries a beveled cog-wheel a which meshes with a beveled pinion to. To the pinion u is secured a rod a having a hand-wheel u by which it may be operated. To the rod a is securely attached a lock device (consisting, preferably, of an ordinary ratchet-wheel a" and a pawl a to lock the runners by means of the described mechanism or its equivalent in any set position until purposely released or shifted.

To the under side of the platform T is pivotally secured one end of a curved bar V, having a point '0, adapted to engage in the snow to retard the backward movement of the sleigh when going uphill and to serve the purpose of a drag-brake when goin g downhill.

A lever V, having an angular projecting arm n, is pivoted at 0 and a link or bar Q2 pivotally connects said arm 1; with the bar V by means of a clamp or piece 22 The steering means comprise the bars W V W, secured to the cross-bars t, which are vertically pivoted and turnable by means of a bolt or pin secured in a brace of the platform and passing through a fifth-wheel t of the braces 15 fore and aft, the said bars W WV crossing each other, as at w. The said bars have racks w 7112, which racks are each in constant mesh with a pinion 20 which pinion, together with a cog-wheel-w is loosely pivoted on a vertical shaft 20 The cog-wheel 10 meshes with a pinion 10 which is secured to and operated. by a vertical rod w having a hand-wheel w To this rod 20 may be also attached a lock device (such, for instance, as a ratchet-wheel 10 and a pawl 10 to engage therewith) to prevent the accidental movement of the steering device. This provision, however, in connection with the steering device is not essential.

As will be readily seen by the drawings, power is communicated through the cylinders H to rotate the wheels D D, which by means of their radial projections alternately engaging with the packed snow serve to propel the sleigh. By means of the lever Q and its mechanism operating upon the rod P the propelling-wheels D D may be raised or low- The said uprights T T are con-' ered, according to the density of the snow. The rotation of the propelling-wheels may be checked by operating the lever S of the friction-brake. r

In case of inequalities in the road being traveled I employ the herein-shown means whereby the runners on either side of the sleigh may be raised or lowered by turning the handwheel u which operates upon the shaft U, thereby causing the uprights T T T T to have a vertical sliding motion wit-hin the blocks M M.

To each end of the shaft U is hinged a knuckle Z, which is provided with another hinge 2, arranged rectangularly to the firstmentioned hinge. Loosely engaging the said knuckle and forming a part of the latter hinge is preferably an extension ,2, formed on the projecting end of the bearing-pivot Z, which is supported turnably within the openings t of the plates 25 To the portion of the pivots Z contained between the plates t t, which portion is preferably rectangular in cross-section, are firmly secured the supporting-springs Z which are also located and adapted to operate between the said plates 25 t and engage, by means of links Z2 e with the sliding standards T T the fore and aft runners being similarly provided. It is thus readily seen that since the springs, and consequently the runners, are connected with the shaftU when the latter is turned by means of the mechanism described the said runners, by means of the tilting of the said springs Z may be so moved as to be adapted to any angle in the road-bed, while the body and framework may still retain a relatively level position. If desired, an extra extension or eye Z may be formed on one of the pivots Z, as shown in Fig. 2, as a convenience in hauling. It is obvious that the double-jointed knuckles Z connecting the shaft U with the pivots Z are to allow for the uneven movement of the runners over the road-bed and to allow them to turn by means of the steering device.

To steer the sleigh, it is only necessary to turn the hand-wheel 10 which operates the gearing, thus causing the cross-bars w 10 to move in opposite directions, thereby guiding the runners as desired;

To convert the sleigh into a wheeled vehicle, the runners are removed and hooked bars X are fastened to the lower parts of the uprights T T T T at the point y by bolts or other suitable means. A slotted piece as is provided at the upper end of said bars X, through which the upper ends of the bars T T project and are fastened in any suitable manner and in such position as to allow the free upward and downward movements of the slide-block M.

The packing device Y (shown in .Fig. 8) consists of a sheet of metal of semicircular shape and is adapted to be secured to the forward end of the wheel-frame E of the sleigh, its function being to pack the snow previous to the runners traveling thereon.

Having now described my invention, I declare that what I claim is 1. In a sleigh having forward and rear runners, said runners connected in pairs each by a pivoted transverse piece, said pivoted transverse piece being connected to the. blockpieces M, M, and movable vertically at its ends, a connection between said transverse piece and the runners, and means for moving same a designated distance, substantially as set forth.

2. In a sleigh having forward and rear runners, said runners movably connected in pairs by a pivoted transverse piece, said pivoted transverse piece being connected to the blockpieces M, M, and movable vertically at its ends, a horizontal bar movably connected with said transverse piece, and means for turning said horizontal bar a designated distance, substantially as set forth.

3. In a sleigh having forward and rear runners, said runners connected in pairs each by a pivoted transverse piece, a horizontal bar secured movably to said transverse piece, a piece having a knuckle-joint secured to each end of said horizontal bar, and knuckle-joints formed in the opposite end of each of said pieces secured to said bar, at right angles to said first-mentioned knuckle-joint, to movably connect the said horizontal bar with the said transverse pieces, and means for turning the said horizontal bar, substantially as set forth.

4:. In a sleigh having forward and rear runners, said runners movably connected in pairs each by a pivoted cross-piece, a horizontal bar movably secured to said cross-piece, a cogwheel upon said bar, a pinion meshing with said cog-wheel, said pinion secured upon a shaft suitably journaled, said shaft also carrying a bevel-gear, another bevel-gear connected with a hand-wheel and meshing with said first-mentioned bevel-gear, substantially as set forth.

5. In a sleigh having runners, said runners movably connected in pairs each by a transverse piece pivoted to the machine-frame, the said transverse piece having a vertical movement at its ends, and means for imparting by said transverse piece a positive vertical movement to said runners, substantially as set forth.

6. In a sleigh having runners, said runners movablyconnected in pairs by a pivoted transverse piece, means for imparting a positive vertical movement to said runners, and a guide to direct said movement of each of said runners, substantially as set forth.

'7. In a sleigh having runners, said runners movably connected in pairs by pivoted transverse pieces, means for imparting a positive vertical movement to said runners, a vertical guide-piece connected with each of said runners, and a socket connected with the sleighframe for receiving said vertical guide-piece, substantially as set forth.

8. In a vehicle having runners, and a device for raisingand lowering said runners on one side of said vehicle and oppositely affecting the runners on the other side thereof, a lock consisting of a piece for removably engaging a portion of said raising and lowering device, to arrest the movement thereof, substantially as set forth.

9. A convertible sleigh and wheeled vehicle comprising a frame having runners, propelling-wheels having radial arms or blades and means for driving said wheels, a frictionbrake applied to said propelling wheels, means for regulating the depth of the projecting of the propeller-blades below the runners, a steering device, and means for adj usting the relative positions of the runners to maintain the platform in an even plane on uneven roads, together with means for adjusting wheels to said vehicle in place of the runners, substantially as set forth.

10. In a power-sleigh the combination of vertically-movable and self-adjustable runners, a pair of propelling-wheels arranged tandem wise, means for driving said wheels, and means upon said wheels for engaging with the surface of the path traveled, substantially as set forth.

11. A power-sleigh having a pair of propelling-wheels pivoted thereto tandemwise, means for driving said wheels comprising a crank 011 one of said wheels and a disk or drum on the other of said wheels, a connecting-rod between said crank and disk, a pitman-rod pivotally connected with said con-- necting-rod, and a piston-rod connected with said pitman-rod, all to rotate the propellingwheels, substantially as set forth.

12. In a power-sleigh, having a propellingwheel whose periphery extends below the sleigh-runners, a post or upright pivotally secured to a cross-spring borne by uprights, a lever having a rectangular arm, a frictionpiece encircling said post and a link pivotally connecting said arm and friction-piece, and arranged to be operated by said lever to raise the propelling wheel, substantially as set forth.

13. In a power-sleigh, having a propellingwheel, a friction-brake and means for applying said brake, substantially as set forth.

14:. In a power-sleigh, having a propellingwheel, a drum secured upon the shaft of said wheel, on either side thereof, a double lever and a band applied to the surface of each of said drums, said bands being connected with and operated by said lever, substantially as set forth.

15. In a sleigh having vertically-adj ustable ICC IIO

forward and rear runners, bars connecting opposite forward and rear runners, and means for moving said bars to alter the relative and positive positions of tWo pairs of said runners, substantially as set forth.

16. In a sleigh having forward and rear runners, rack-bars connecting opposite forward and rear runners, a pinion at the point of intersection of said racks, a cog-Wheel carried by said pinion and another pinion meshing With said cog-Wheel, said second-mentioned pinion connected with and operated by a hand-Wheel, substantially as set forth.

17. A snow-packer for sleighs comprising a semicircular sheet of metal and means for March, 1894.

JOHN M. TRULL. Witnesses:

CHARLES RENFRO, ANNIE O. BURGESS. 

